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Off to the races

Remember in "Crimson Tide" when Gene Hackman calls a missile drill while Denzel is busy fighting a fatal fire in the galley? We're extremely busy in this newsroom today -- mostly figuring out what may be a record-setting "vertical drop" on the market for these times -- and someone said toward the end of our frantic editorial meeting, "I bet Libby happens today." It's actually a good readiness drill: While we're fighting the galley fire (on Wall Street, as it were), we must remain ready for a missile drill (a verdict in a major Washington case, for which we have drilled). Any major story could break in tandem with this... it's just good practice. Then again, perhaps I've just driven a good movie analogy right into the ground. We'll call on our friends at CNBC to help us figure out this market situation tonight.

A few words about tonight and then I must go: Bob Bazell continues his reports from the combat hospital front in Iraq, and the air route to Germany. We'll have extensive coverage of the bombing three miles from Vice President Cheney in Afghanistan, and Dr. Nancy Snyderman will be along to discuss the troubling HPV story. Also tonight: the "It's About You" Generation -- is the new data on our college kids a bad rap? Is it, in fact, all about them, or will they be the generation that saves all of us and cleans up our messes?

Wild day in the newsroom -- just finished a network special report on the stock market (video link) -- time to go figure out what happened and what's next.